Legal Aid Agency Rating: Excellent

The Centre has been awarded a Legal Aid Agency rating of 'excellent'. The Centre holds a Legal Aid contract which makes some of our legal work with the most vulnerable and destitute possible. We are subject to peer review by a panel of solicitors at the Legal Aid Agency.

After an anxious wait we were informed that our Legal Aid Agency rating is 'excellent'. Well done to our Immigration team.

The comments at the start of our report were: "The work seen on all cases, whether complex or more straightforward, was of a very high standard. Many of the cases were complex, with multiple issues. The [Cardinal Hume Centre] always took time to understand the pertinent issues in clients’ cases, constantly updating their instructions where appropriate. Advice to clients was always tailored to clients’ cases, clear, succinct and helpful. Representations to the Home Office were persuasive and demonstrated an impressive breadth of knowledge of law, policy and procedure across the immigration sector. Clients were, without exception, represented very well."

 

It has been a real boost to the team to get independent recognition of the high quality of work they do.

 

This is just one of their successful cases working with a client to bring stability and recognition of their right to be in the UK: 

Our client was brought to the UK in 2004 when she was 12 years old to join her mother in the UK. Although she didn’t quite fit in with any of the rules we were able to get her leave to remain in 2016. She was on the ten year route which meant she had to apply for further leave every 30 months until she had accumulated ten years leave.

When her leave was up for renewal in 2022 the Home Office had just brought in a concession that people who, when under 25 years had lived the UK for at least half their lives, could apply for Indefinite Leave after five years. Although our client didn’t quite qualify for this under the rules, as she missed out by a couple of months, we tried anyway. Almost a year after the application, she was granted Indefinite Leave to Remain. This means she can live in the UK for as long as she likes, without having to make any further applications, she has the right to work and to benefit,  and in due course will be able to apply for citizenship.